Interacting with brands is no longer confined to just walking into a shop as well as physically viewing a product. The overall customer journey has transformed and with it so has a brand’s marketing strategy. Email communications, website visits in addition to media engagements have made it easier for consumers to make informed decisions. However, keeping a track of these engagements is the biggest challenge for marketers today and their marketing strategies.
There is ample customer data but it is only through analysing this data and converting it into insights that it becomes quite useful to companies. This is where data analytics come in – it simply eases these complex processes and creates a continuous experience for the customer throughout their journey.
Alternatively, from a marketer’s viewpoint, analytics can help them to understand the effectiveness of their marketing strategies, weigh the pros and cons of their marketing activities and ultimately pinpoint the efforts required to achieve their business goals. Analysing and interpreting data subsequently provides a deeper understanding of the type of content or messages that would be more impactful.
Leveraging Big Data To Increase Sales And Revenues
Chief marketing officers (CMOs) across South Africa are gradually incorporating big data into their decision-making process. For example, a recently conducted study has revealed that:
- 42% of CMOs make marketing decisions based on customer-acquisition numbers,
- 5% based on customer insight,
- 1% prioritise digital marketing when making such decisions,
- 35% place greater emphasis on customer retention, and
- 5% make marketing decisions on the basis of branding.
It is worth noting that 46% of the polled marketers said that they would utilise various analytics strategies in order to gain consumer insight in 2017. Examples of such strategies include location-based targeting, personalization, and an increase in mobile and real-time reporting.
